1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transaction apparatus which receives banknotes, classifies them into banknotes in reusable good condition and those not suited for reuse and stacks them separately and disperses reusable banknotes in response to customers' requests for dispensing.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic transaction apparatus which receives banknotes, classifies and stacks them into two groups of those in reusable good condition and those not suited for reuse and pays reusable banknotes in response to customers' requests for disbursement has been put in practical use.
This kind of automatic transaction apparatus includes a banknote receiving section, an inspection section, a recycling section, a rejection section, a loading section, a checking section and a conveying section. The banknote receiving section receives banknotes to be processed. The inspection section checks conditions of banknotes deposited into the receiving section; that is, for instance, the degree of stain or kind one by one and classify them into those banknotes that are reusable (hereinafter referred to as reusable banknotes) for disbursement and those that are judged to be not suited for reuse (hereinafter referred to as rejected banknotes). The recycling section stores reusable banknotes that are classified as such by the inspection section. The rejection section stores rejected banknotes that are classified as such by the inspection section. The loading section makes it possible to supply banknotes from the outside so that reusable banknotes to be disbursed in response to customers' requests do not become insufficient. The checking section rechecks the state of banknotes stored in the recycling banknote storage section for reuse one by one. The conveying section conveys banknotes deposited into the receiving section to the inspection section, guides the banknotes either to a recycle banknote stacking section or the rejected banknote storage section according to the result of classification by the inspection section and sends banknotes in specified numbers from the recycle banknote storage section to the receiving section.
Nowadays, the reduction of pause time, that is, improvement of the operating ratio of automatic transaction apparatus is demanded. For this reason, automatic transaction apparatus are required to have a capacity sufficient enough to store banknotes; that is, no additional replenishment of banknotes and reduction of the number of checks by service man are demanded for enabling unattended transaction for a long hour, for instance, in holidays. In addition, it is also demanded not to suspend normal transactions; that is, receiving or disbursing for supplying banknotes.
Further, one set of rejected banknote stacking sections is normally arranged in a relatively less storage capacity in order to secure a capacity of the banknote recycling section.
In the rejected banknotes stacking sections, rejected banknotes classified by the inspection section after deposited through the banknote receiving opening and counted, and rejected banknotes classified then disbursing from the recycling banknote section in response to customers' dispensing requests are stored.
Further, in the rejected banknote stacking section, rejected banknotes generated from the check for counting the balance of rejected banknotes stored in the recycling banknote section are also stored.
By the way, the balance of banknotes in the recycling banknote section becomes definite when completing the check but the balance in the rejected banknote stacking section is unknown. Therefore, in order to carry out the subsequent operation in the state where the balance of banknotes in an automatic transaction apparatus is settled by the check, newly rejected banknotes generated in the customers' transactions such as dispensing or depositing after completion of the check must be clearly discriminated from rejected banknotes already rejected before the check and rejected banknotes generated during the check.
Accordingly, the customers' transactions becomes executable after removing rejected banknotes stored in the rejected banknote stacking section by a clerk at the time when the check is completed. However, this has such a problem that a clerk is needed whenever performing the check. Further, there is also such a problem that a checking clerk must be on standby around an automatic transaction apparatus.
Further, nowadays, examples of some automatic transaction apparatus are installed in remote unattended shops through an on-line system. In addition, many automatic transaction apparatus are so formed that the check can be started any time according to a check command from a management sensor of an on-line system.
However, to automatically start the customer transactions after completing the check, rejected banknotes already stored in the rejected banknote stacking section must be removed.
This will bind a clerk who goes round unattended shops for a long hour and also increase the number of clerks required for going round a plurality of unattended shops.